


when the sun goes down.

by SilkyinaBottle



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Feelings Realization, First years as third years, Fluff, HQ Rarepair Exchange 2020, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26536969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilkyinaBottle/pseuds/SilkyinaBottle
Summary: Yamaguchi should have realized it sooner... but he can't say he's upset when he finally figures it out.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei/Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 88
Collections: Haikyuu Rarepair Exchange 2020





	when the sun goes down.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a gift fic for @sugar_levels on twitter for the 2020 HQ Rarepair Exchange!! no specific ships were provided in your letter, but when i saw your choice of characters i knew i had to go for yamaguchi/hinata. i'm a sucker for their friendship and any relationship it could evolve into.
> 
> this was originally going to be a bit longer, so there's still the chance i might expand upon it later!! either way, i hope you like it for what it is now!
> 
> (the title, of course, is taken from in the heights.)

It should have hit Yamaguchi when they started studying together.

Now, it would have been fine if he was visiting Hinata’s class during lunch. At least then they'd be surrounded by classmates, looking over his scribbled math notes in the safety of classroom walls. But no. That’s how it started, at least. But with Hinata's grades still tanking, he insisted on coming to his house after school.

Tsukki made snide remarks the first few times. “Good luck dealing with him for that long," he told Yamaguchi day one. But now he just scowls whenever he sees the two of them walking home together. But it’s fine. He figures Tsukki's just jealous now that they’re spending less time together after school.

...Right?

Hinata groans, pressing his face against the cool hardwood table. Yamaguchi’s mother brought it up to his room so they could study, just like she brought them snacks so they wouldn’t go hungry. “Are you sure all this is important?” Hinata eyes his history homework with the sort of scrutiny that’s really just thinly-veiled hatred. “When am I ever gonna need to know all this?”

“When they test you on it,” Yamaguchi answers, unpeeling a tangerine with careful touch. “And you fail, and can’t come to the next training camp.” Now that they’re third years, that’s even more imperative. A training camp without their ace could prove to be a big setback.

Hinata slowly lifts his head up, looking miserable by all accounts. “...You’re right,” he mumbles, with great hesitation.

Yamaguchi holds back a smile. “What was that?” He can’t help it - it’s nice to hear, especially from Hinata.

“You’re right, Captain!” Hinata repeats, at triple the volume. He swiftly reaches across the table and shoves some daifuku into his mouth before grabbing his pencil and honing in on his paper. It’s hard not to laugh at his enthusiasm - he probably thinks eating snacks like that will increase his brain power. It’s sort of endearing, really.

However, it doesn’t take long for Yamaguchi to spot something small (and honestly, kind of insignificant): a bit of anko stuck to Hinata’s left cheek. “Ah, Hinata -”

“Whuff?” Hinata asks, cheeks fuller than a chipmunk’s. He swallows quickly before repeating himself. “What?”

“You’ve got a little…” But there’s no need to speak - not when Yamaguchi is already reaching out and swiping his thumb against Hinata’s cheek. His skin is soft, and it’s not until Yamaguchi gets close that he sees it’s lightly freckled. There’s suddenly a lump in his throat - one he has to force himself to swallow.

Hinata regards him with a strange sort of look. “Oh, thanks.” He blinks slowly as Yamaguchi pulls back. “You’re okay, right?”

“Yeah… yeah!” Why wouldn’t he be? “I just… I never noticed you had freckles, I guess.”

“Oh!” Hinata drops his pencil to the side, and Yamaguchi can’t even think to scold him before he starts babbling. “Yeah, they’re not really that noticeable, huh? I have to lean in real close to the mirror to get a good look at them! Not like yours. Yours are like  _ pow,  _ you know?”

Yamaguchi tucks some hair behind his ear, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. “Yeah, I know.” Years of bullying have only made them stand out more in his eyes.

“I like them.”

He glances up in a hurry, meeting Hinata’s eyes unexpectedly. “...You do?”

“Yeah! It’s like…,” Hinata squints for a moment, like he’s struggling to find the right words, “it’s like you wouldn’t be Yamaguchi without them, you know? Or, er -” He sputters for a few moments before continuing. “You would be, but it’d be kind of weird, right? Like a volleyball court without all the lines!”

Yamaguchi finds himself smiling before he even realizes. “Don’t worry. I think I get what you mean.” He reaches across the table once more, picking up Hinata’s pencil with delicate fingers and guiding it back into his hand. “But I’m not sure  _ you  _ get anything about the Edo period.”

Hinata groans loudly, hunching his shoulders and forcing his gaze down at his homework again. Something about it is almost endearing.

It had taken Yamaguchi a while to get used to captaincy, mostly because he hadn’t expected it. Maybe he should have - he always seemed to be the one reeling in his rowdier companions, and it’s not like Yamaguchi could say any of them were captain material. Though… to be fair, he hardly thought of  _ himself  _ as captain material, either.

So it was a surprise when Ennoshita introduced the idea, and an even  _ bigger  _ surprise when Hinata jumped into the air and  _ whooped,  _ shouting about how he knew it. How could he have predicted this when Yamaguchi still wasn’t even a starter? And yes, Ennoshita hadn’t been a starter in his second year either, but that was  _ different - _

Still, as he met Hinata’s bright, encouraging eyes, he realized it was nice to have someone who believed in him wholeheartedly.

So it’s a few months into the school year and he’s still finding his sea legs. He doesn’t always know what he’s doing, but that’s fine, because when Hinata looks at him and smiles that smile, he feels like he can do  _ anything. _

Yamaguchi is helping the first years improve their serves (a lucky few will end up being starters, after all, and one might even become their pinch server) when Hinata bounds across the gym, holding a volleyball over his head. “Yamaguchiiiiiii!” he cries, skidding to a stop in front of him. “Can I help? Can I?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be practicing your receives?” Hinata’s gotten better over the years, of course, but receives are still easily his weak point.

Hinata’s gaze shifts nervously to the side. “Well, yeah… but I’ve been doing my Lonely Passing Drills all the time at home, so it’s fine! Besides, this way we can get  _ twice  _ as much work done!”

“Really, I don’t know -”

“Come on!” he pleads. “I wouldn’t want any of our first years to make the same mistakes I have - like smacking Kageyama in the back of the head with a serve!”

He’s smiling hopefully, and Yamaguchi finds he just doesn’t have it in him to say no - especially when half of the first years are balking at the thought of wronging Kageyama. “Fine. But you have to  _ promise  _ me you’ll keep practicing on your own.”

Hinata stands up straight, tucking his volleyball under one arm as he does a quick salute. “Yes, Captain!”

As Hinata joins his motley crew of first years, Tsukki glances over from the other end of the gym. As his eyes meet Yamaguchi’s, he raises his eyebrows. “Playing favorites, Captain?” he calls out. A couple of second years titter, as does Yachi, but he ignores them. After all, Tsukki is the easiest player to deal with - Yamaguchi knows all of his weaknesses.

Leave it to Hinata to make a big deal out of his birthday. He wanted to do something with as many members of the team as he could, just like he did every year. And as luck would have it, there was a festival just a town over that wasn’t too much trouble to attend. It was a bit early for festival season, Yamaguchi thought, but it could be fun anyways.

They wind up with a full group of third years, with only a few of their underclassmen tagging along, but Hinata seems unperturbed. Honestly, it was a miracle they got Tsukki out here at all. It probably has something to do with Yachi, who’s smiling as she holds his hand, absolutely glowing in her floral pink yukata. Yamaguchi won’t say he’s jealous of their relationship, but… well, having a girlfriend would be nice, wouldn’t it?

But it’s not like he has much time to think about dating when Hinata is dragging him by the hand to the nearest game stall. “I’m never good at this one!” he moans, gesturing wildly with his free hand at all the prizes lined up for shooting. “I can never aim right!” 

Shateki. Yamaguchi hasn’t played in years, but he’s willing to try, if that’s what Hinata wants to do. “And you’re going to play anyways?” he asks.

“Well…,” Hinata glances away, “I thought, since you’re so good at aiming your serves… There are prizes I want, and it is my birthday…” He glances up at Yamaguchi, his eyes big, shiny, and expectant.

He sighs, but he’s still smiling. “I can try, but no promises, okay?” He fishes some yen out of his pocket while Hinata cheers and throws his hands up. As soon as he’s handed the toy rifle, he holds it at the ready, squinting as he lifts it into position. “What do you want me to aim at?” he asks Hinata.

“The Torchic plushie!” he says, pointing at the little orange bird sitting on the highest shelf.

Yamaguchi throws him a brief look - not judging, just surprised. He didn’t expect Hinata to ask for something, so… well, cute!

Hinata glares back at him, though not with any real malice. “Hey, it’s  _ my  _ birthday.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, turning to line up his shot instead. It doesn’t matter  _ what  _ Hinata wants - Yamaguchi will make sure he gets it either way.

His first shot is a near miss, and he clicks his tongue, frustrated already. He almost curses under his breath - he only has two tries, and that didn’t exactly fill him with confidence - but Hinata lets out a loud, “Woooooow!” before he can. “I’ve  _ never  _ made it that close before!” he cries, clutching at the booth and leaning forward on his toes. “Try it again, try it again!”

That earns an honest chuckle out of Yamaguchi. Hinata’s always so  _ earnest.  _ Never once has he had reason to doubt that admiration from Hinata is built on anything but truth. “Okay,” he agrees, locking his eyes on the prize once more. He can feel his lips curl up into an unbidden smirk. “Take two.”

He takes a deep breath and remembers: he is Tadashi Yamaguchi, team captain and spear of Karasuno.

He pulls the trigger, and tiny Torchic topples over without a sound. Hinata  _ screams,  _ and continues to bounce and shout as the grizzled man running the stand hands over his prize.

“That was  _ so cool!”  _ he tells Yamaguchi, leading him away from that game and down the rows of stalls once more. “You were like  _ bam  _ and it fell over like  _ fwoosh!” _ The lanterns shine like orange and yellow stars over their heads, casting Hinata’s sunny smile in a warm glow. They’re standing in a light-up wonderland, and though they’re surrounded by people, it’s just the two of them - Hinata clutching tightly to his new prized possession, and Yamaguchi reaching out to take his hand again.

“You really are the best,” Hinata says, just as Yamaguchi thinks,  _ I’d like to kiss him,  _ and suddenly reality kicks back in.

They’re in the middle of a festival, surrounded by other people, they’re almost holding hands, he just played a game meant for  _ children,  _ and he wants to kiss Hinata.

He pulls his hand away suddenly, feeling all too warm. Hinata’s eyebrows go up, and it looks like he’s about to say something when a voice sounds out behind them. “Oi. Yamaguchi.” Tsukki is standing nearby, hand-in-hand with Yachi, who peers at them curiously. “We’re getting food. Are you going to join us?”

He’s never been so grateful for a distraction. “Oh, um - yeah. That sounds nice?”

Tsukki seems unconvinced, but he doesn’t comment. Instead, Yachi raises her voice to ask, “What about you, Hinata-kun? Are you coming?”

“Yeah, of course I’ll go! It’s my birthday, so we should all eat together!”

“Good, because Kageyama already went ahead,” Tsukki tells him. “He said he was racing you.”

“Why, that -“ Hinata immediately turns on his heel and takes off running in the direction of the food booths. “Kageyaaaamaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Yamaguchi stays rooted in place, watching as he goes. Part of him is still trying to process this newfound attraction, he thinks.

“...So. You finally realized it, did you?” Tsukki asks, his voice closer than Yamaguchi expected.

Yamaguchi jumps, which certainly doesn’t help his case when he stammers out, “N-noticed  _ what,  _ exactly?”

Tsukki stares at him blankly, but after a moment, clicks his tongue and glances away. “Never mind. You’re a lost cause.”

“Kei-kun!” Yachi chides, elbowing him lightly. “Be nice.” That gets Tsukki to shut down immediately, which is honestly impressive. Yachi must have a lot of power, Yamaguchi thinks. “We should go eat for now,” she suggests, smiling sweetly. She takes a few steps ahead, pulling Tsukki along by his hand, before she turns back to say, “Oh! But good luck with Hinata-kun!”

Yamaguchi stays still for a few moments more, watching the world move around him as his friends start to walk away. It feels like he’s always one step behind, but maybe…

He strides ahead, catching up to them in a few forward leaps.

Maybe now he has the upper hand.


End file.
